“O Alienista": The Quixotic Science
| Dates: | 9 December 2020 |
|---|
| Times: | 17:00 - 18:00 |
|---|
| What is it: | Seminar |
|---|
| Organiser: | School of Arts, Languages and Cultures |
|---|
| Speaker: | Viviane Carvalho da Annunciação |
|---|
|
|
This paper aims to examine notions of science and madness in O Alienista (1881) by Machado de Assis. It focuses on how the plot structure of the novella satirises the progressive philosophy of history and science in Comtean Positivism. Simultaneously, the narrator approximates Bacamarte, the alienist of the title, to Don Quijote de La Mancha (1605) by Cervantes, creating a spatial and temporal anachronism. These two opposing movements critique the limits and contradictions of Positivist philosophy in Brazil at the end of the nineteenth century.
https://zoom.us/j/98528071835
Meeting ID: 985 2807 1835
Passcode: 513390
Speaker
Viviane Carvalho da Annunciação
Organisation: University of Cambridge
Travel and Contact Information
